Going into this "V1 upgrade" I wholly expected to be happy, but I was not anticipating how impressive the acoustic change would be. These few foam pads have completely revolutionized the feel of my V1 Ctrl. Everything about typing is now.. "Chunky-er" and robust; all the tinny notes and rattle are completely gone. Think about it like slamming the car door on a 1980's honda civic and then gently shutting the door on a rolls royce; the sound and the feel just oozes quality and craftsmanship (Which the original Ctrl had in spades already!)
Anyone out there with a V1 board I cannot recommend these foam inserts strongly enough!
If I was pressed for any sort of cons, maybe if you were really rough with the foam it might tear at the thin parts? But I had no issues.
I’ve been wanting to add foam inserts to my keyboard, and I bought a couple of these kits as soon as I saw them on Drop. I really like the result of adding the foam. It gave me a great excuse to disassemble my keyboard and clean everything. I enjoy this hobby!
Pretty intuitive, no instructions required. Comes pre-plucked, unlike the competitors (do you really want to pluck 100500 tiny bits with tweezers?!), took me maybe 20 minutes to install, most of which were spent assembling the keycaps. The only negative I can think of is, it doesn't come with a piece to cover a hollow space in the middle of the bottom part of high profile CTRL... no big deal, a roughly cut piece of neoprene fixed that right away.
Note that you probably won't be able to align a thin sheet that goes underneath the switches perfectly... Don't worry, it will not interfere with them in any way and won't block the LEDs.
Let's be real, the CTRL integrated plate design creates a huge echo and ping sound when typing. I inherited a 1st gen CTRL from a buddy and was looking at options to make it sound more sturdy. After the gasket mount craze from other boards, the CTRL was almost unbearable. I received this kit and immediately installed it. It made a world of difference. Although it won't 100% remove the pings and echoes, it brings them down to a much more livable level. I think this is a mod you have to do.
Feels good overall, one part didn't match my Kb version
Installation was more or less straightforward solving a puzzle of placing correct foam part at correct location. There was no completely matching part for left side of my High Profile Ctrl but it was solved by cutting excess off the one that matched the best.
Black thin layer between keyboard and PCB doesn't match cutouts in some parts. Needed to mod this one as well. Also ended up bending several switch contacts because of this.
Idea to use Vimeo video for tutorial is horrendous! Not possible to move back to rewatch, not possible to open in separate window.
I lowered it to 3.
I bent contacts on around 10 switches because thin layer that was meant between case and PCB does not match cutouts accurately.
I ended up replacing most of the broken switches (not risking breaking off contacts) and fiddling with cutting out missed holes.
Overall good product but has some serious issues.